My chest hurt. “Ryan… what the heck?”
He turned to me.
“I was making sure!”
Travis’s voice hardened. “She said, ‘Daddy keeps asking like I’m saying it wrong.’”
I covered my mouth. Suddenly Emma’s behavior made sense.
‘You don’t have to protect Travis. You can tell me if he hurt you.’
Travis continued.
“I talked to him a few days ago. Told him if he had a problem with me, he should talk to me. Stop putting Emma in the middle.”
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Ryan laughed bitterly. “You told me how to parent my daughter.”
“I told you to stop making her think she’s lying because she won’t give you the answer you want.” Travis glanced between us. “He said he’d handle it.”
“Stop putting Emma in the middle.”
And Ryan had handled it by removing Travis.
Ryan pointed toward him. “This proves exactly what I’ve been saying. Why is my seven-year-old discussing me with you?”
Travis stared at him. “Because you kept asking her about me.”
That shut Ryan up. But it didn’t answer the question that mattered anymore: what was Ryan really afraid of?
Ryan had handled it by removing Travis.
I turned on Travis. “You should have told me.”
He nodded immediately.
“You’re right. I thought he’d fix it,” Travis said. “I was wrong.”
Ryan started pacing.
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“You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?” I asked.
“I was wrong.”
He turned toward me.
“He’s always there.” Ryan’s words started coming faster. “Your car broke down when you were a teenager? Travis fixed it. Your dad died? Travis helped your mom. Something breaks? Travis can fix it. You need help with Emma? Travis is available.”
His face twisted.
“Every time I can’t be there, somehow HE is.”
“He’s always there.”
Ryan glanced at Travis. Then he looked at me.
“Sometimes I think you’ve been in love with him this whole time.”
The room went silent.
Even Ryan seemed shocked by his own words.
And finally, I understood.
“You’re jealous of him.”
